Hidden in Plain Sight: Covert Criticism of the Medici in Renaissance Florence (Medieval Interventions)

400 Pages·2019·7.635 MB·English

by  James O. Ward

6
Hidden in Plain Sight: Covert Criticism of the Medici in Renaissance Florence offers the
fi rst systematic study of an important and heretofore insuffi ciently-studied phenomenon in Hidden
Renaissance Europe. Through a close examination of a wide variety of visual and textual
materials, James O. Ward illuminates the means by which Florentine citizens—among them
several of the most famous artists and writers of the time, such as Michelangelo, Machia-
in Plain Sight
velli, and Vasari—managed, in an increasingly authoritarian political and cultural climate,
to express their disaffection with the prevailing political and cultural status quo in relatively
safe ways, while at the same time maintaining contact with those rulers whom they criticized, H
I
upon whom they often depended for their livelihoods. Ward’s volume thus offers new and D
COVERT CRITICISM OF THE MEDICI
provocative interpretations of some of the most famous works of Italian Renaissance visual D
and textual culture—for example, Michelangelo’s New Sacristy in Florence, Machiavelli’s E IN RENAISSANCE FLORENCE
N
Prince, and Vasari’s portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici—which have traditionally been viewed

I
by scholars of the period as encomiastic celebrations of their patrons’ power and prestige. N
The volume thus provides—besides its intimate view of power relations between some of
P
S
Florence’s most creative artists and writers and those they served—fresh perspectives on L N
the important question of patron-artist relations during the period. A O
I I
Written in a style which is not too technical, the book is an ideal resource for specialists N T
N
in Italian history, art history, literature, rhetoric, theatre studies, and the history of Italian S E
V
academies, as well as a stimulating narrative for the educated general reader interested in I R
G
E
the history of Florence, and its often fraught relations with its leading family, the Medici. H T
N
T
I

“This book will be of great interest to students in political theory and the history L
A
|
of political thought. The so-called lettura obliqua of Machiavelli’s masterpiece has a V
E
long history; however, this is the fi rst time that this reading has been proposed in a W I
D
radically new way, taking into account how Machiavelli’s friends would have read the a E
M
Prince soon after its completion. The way Ward deals with the tradition of innuendo is r
d
something entirely new and will spark a lively debate among scholars of Machiavelli.”
—Paolo Carta, Professor of the History of Political Thought, The University of Trento
James O. Ward received his Ph.D. in Italian studies from the University of California,
Berkeley. He is currently an independent scholar, living and working in New York City.
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
www.peterlang.com G
Cover image: Michelangelo, Medici Chapel, Night, detail
(Reproduced with the permission of Ministero per i Beni e le JAMES O. WARD
Attività Culturali/Raffaello Bencini/Alinari Archives, Florence)
6
Hidden in Plain Sight: Covert Criticism of the Medici in Renaissance Florence offers the
fi rst systematic study of an important and heretofore insuffi ciently-studied phenomenon in Hidden
Renaissance Europe. Through a close examination of a wide variety of visual and textual
materials, James O. Ward illuminates the means by which Florentine citizens—among them
several of the most famous artists and writers of the time, such as Michelangelo, Machia-
in Plain Sight
velli, and Vasari—managed, in an increasingly authoritarian political and cultural climate,
to express their disaffection with the prevailing political and cultural status quo in relatively
safe ways, while at the same time maintaining contact with those rulers whom they criticized, H
I
upon whom they often depended for their livelihoods. Ward’s volume thus offers new and D
COVERT CRITICISM OF THE MEDICI
provocative interpretations of some of the most famous works of Italian Renaissance visual D
and textual culture—for example, Michelangelo’s New Sacristy in Florence, Machiavelli’s E IN RENAISSANCE FLORENCE
N
Prince, and Vasari’s portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici—which have traditionally been viewed

I
by scholars of the period as encomiastic celebrations of their patrons’ power and prestige. N
The volume thus provides—besides its intimate view of power relations between some of
P
S
Florence’s most creative artists and writers and those they served—fresh perspectives on L N
the important question of patron-artist relations during the period. A O
I I
Written in a style which is not too technical, the book is an ideal resource for specialists N T
N
in Italian history, art history, literature, rhetoric, theatre studies, and the history of Italian S E
V
academies, as well as a stimulating narrative for the educated general reader interested in I R
G
E
the history of Florence, and its often fraught relations with its leading family, the Medici. H T
N
T
I

“This book will be of great interest to students in political theory and the history L
A
|
of political thought. The so-called lettura obliqua of Machiavelli’s masterpiece has a V
E
long history; however, this is the fi rst time that this reading has been proposed in a W I
D
radically new way, taking into account how Machiavelli’s friends would have read the a E
M
Prince soon after its completion. The way Ward deals with the tradition of innuendo is r
d
something entirely new and will spark a lively debate among scholars of Machiavelli.”
—Paolo Carta, Professor of the History of Political Thought, The University of Trento
James O. Ward received his Ph.D. in Italian studies from the University of California,
Berkeley. He is currently an independent scholar, living and working in New York City.
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
www.peterlang.com G
Cover image: Michelangelo, Medici Chapel, Night, detail
(Reproduced with the permission of Ministero per i Beni e le JAMES O. WARD
Attività Culturali/Raffaello Bencini/Alinari Archives, Florence)
Hidden in Plain Sight
MEDIEVAL INTERVENTIONS
New Light on Traditional Thinking

Stephen G. Nichols
General Editor

Vol. 6

The Medieval Interventions series is part of the Peter Lang Humanities list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
James O. Ward

Hidden in Plain Sight

Covert Criticism of the Medici
in Renaissance Florence

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ward, James O., author.
Title: Hidden plain in sight: covert criticism of the Medici
in Renaissance Florence / James O. Ward.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.
Series: Medieval interventions; volume 6
ISSN 2376-2683 (print) | ISSN 2376-2691 (online)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017038367 | ISBN 978-1-4331-3428-9 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4539-1879-1 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 978-1-4331-3794-5 (epub)
ISBN 978-1-4331-3795-2 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Medici, House of.
Artists—Political activity—Italy—Florence—History.
Authors—Political activity—Italy—Florence—History.
Florence (Italy)—Politics and government—1421–1737.
Renaissance—Italy—Florence.
Classification: LCC DG737.55 .W37 2019 | DDC 945/.51105—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017038367
DOI 10.3726/978-1-4539-1879-1
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
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All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Libertà va cercando, ch’è sì cara, come sa chi per lei vita rifiuta.
PURGATORIO 1.71

La storia dei minuti popolani, come la storia dei vinti, è stata dimenticata o sovente
alterata dalla penna e dalla spada dei vincitori. Del resto è una dolorosa serie di tenta-
tivi, di sommosse, più o meno incoscienti, non mai coronate da un buono e duraturo
successo … e lo sguardo di ammirazione e il plauso della vittoria nel circo rivolgevano
le nobili romane certamente al gladiatore vincente, e non all’ infelice caduto. Così la
Storia ha accontentato le nobili dame e i cortesi cavalieri.
NICCOLÒ RODOLICO